Our trip to Alaska was simply fabulous. We travelled by
land, air and water. Cruises West took us for almost a week
along the coast from Seattle to Juneau. A small ship, 80
passengers. So it can go almost anywhere: when whales are
seen they go alongside them, when bears are by the
waterside, there the ship goes and the glaciers - they get
so close the sound is deafening and almost scary! We saw
every type of wild life, and even some magnificent bald
eagles.

They stop at delightful towns and since it was early May
there were no other tourist ships. It was a joy to walk up
and down those towns. I think it was at Petersburg that my
daughter and I took a helicopter ride over the glaciers.
The helicopter landed on a little patch at the very top and
we got out and walked on the ice. Unforgetable for the rest
of our lives!!! We had told the pilot we would like to get
some ice - a little piece. So... on the way back he went
down again and landed on a beach, took a plastic bag and a
tool and came back with an enormous piece of ice!!! We just
wanted a couple of cubes!

We put that ice in the shower stall in our cabin, and it
lasted forever. The last day we broke off a piece, put it
in a container and brought it home!!! Glacier ice lasts
tremendously more than any other ice - but of course it
melted long before we got home.

I have been to very many places in this world, but that trip
to Alaska is a very special one. By car we went to
Anchorage which has its attractions, Fairbanks seems to be
in the north of Africa, not Alaska. Roads were very good.
But, Southeast Alaska is by far the most memorable.